June 28, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



599 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



A shrub which has excited consid- 

 erable interest and aroused much ad- 

 miration in the Arnold Arboretum 

 this spring is Xanthoceras sorbifolia. 

 The question is often asked why the 

 plant is not more often grown in 

 private gardens, and no doubt not a 

 few garden makers will order it. It 

 is really a fine plant, with dense clus- 

 ters of flowers and attractive pinnate 

 foliage. A recent writer has won- 

 dered why it is not more commonly 

 grown and listed by nurserymen. Per- 

 haps the reason is the unfortunate 

 habit which this plant has of sud- 

 denly dying out after a few years 

 and for no apparent cause. It is not 

 a plant which can be recommended 

 with confidence to customers, hand- 

 some as it is. This Xanthoceras is 

 by no means a new plant, despite its 

 rarity. Several years ago when Mr. 

 J. G. Jack, of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 was in Japan, he visited the late Mr. 

 Meyer, the government's well-known 

 plant hunter. Mr. Meyer was just 

 examining a large rough fruit, as 

 hard as a horsechestnut, when Mr. 

 Jack arrived. Mr. Meyer showed his 

 visitor the nutlike fruit and told him 

 that he believed he had discovered 

 something new and interesting. Mr. 

 Jack looked at the fruit and then in- 

 formed his host that he was quite fa- 

 miliar with it, as the plant was grow- 

 ing in the Arboretum and he could 

 give him all the facts about it. Mr. 

 Meyer was somewhat disappointed, 

 but no doubt was saved considerable 

 useless labor. 



The English 'Garden" has a para- 

 graph about the origin of the logan- 

 berry which will be interesting to 

 readers of the article written by Miss 

 Marian Roby Case and published in 

 Horticulture a few weeks ago: 



"Mr. E. A. Bunyard writes to say 

 that he has recently been informed by 

 a lady who knows the loganberry 

 well that when in 1904 she visited 

 Jalapa in Mexico she was surprised to 

 see the natives bringing in loganber- 

 ries from the hills, where they pre- 

 sumably grew wild. Has any other 

 reader heard of South America as a 

 locality for this fruit?" 



Another issue of "The Garden" con- 

 tains a letter in the editorial column 

 about the destruction of wild growth, 



a matter which was taken up in a re- 

 cent article by Mr. E. H. Wilson in 

 Horticulture, which article, by the 

 way, has been given wide circulation 

 in one of the daily papers. The letter 

 referred to and the editorial comment 

 read as follows: 



"Mr. Warner is certainly right in 

 trying to find some method by which 

 this destruction of our wild growth 

 should be stopped. The waste is aw- 

 ful. Children, and even the bigger 

 ones, destroy for the fun of destroy- 

 ing; they pick flowers, then, being 

 too lazy to carry them, drop them. 

 This is not the worst, but it does not 

 remain with me to relate all that I 

 have seen. I think that some pun- 

 ishment ought to be given to those 

 who destroy wild growth. A fine for 

 children over twelve would in some 

 cases stop much of this destruction. 

 G. W. W. 



"(We are not in favor of punish- 

 ment. If children are taught to love 

 our native flowers, they will not waste 

 them. We know a garden in Walworth 

 where flowers are freely grown. When 

 this garden was started a few years 

 ago, the flowers were picked, even 

 before they opened, by children. The 

 children, having now been taught that 

 the flowers are grown there for the 

 enjoyment of all, do not, except in 

 rare cases, attempt to pick the flow- 

 ers, and this is in the heart of Lon- 

 don! How much easier should it be 

 to teach country boys and girls where 

 school gardens have such a good in- 

 fluence on children. Ed.)" 



In one of the magazines a plea is 

 made for a wider planting of the little 

 native rhododendron known as Rho- 

 dora, a plant which grows all the way 

 from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania, 

 and which flowers early in the spring 

 It is not a conspicuous plant, and is 

 at its best in a naturalized planting. 

 I do not believe that it should be 

 recommended for general use in the 

 small garden, but there are places 

 where it can be employed to a dis- 

 tinct advantage. Some years ago Mr. 

 Thomas E. Proctor, of Topsfield, 

 bought a whole carload of these plants 

 and had them set out on his estate. 

 I hardly think, though, that the effect 

 has been as striking as was expected. 



MICHELL'S 



PANSY SEED 



Michili's Giant Exhibition Mixed 



A giant strain which for size of bloom, 

 heavy texture and varied colors and 

 shades cannot be surpassed. Half tr. 

 pkt.. 30c; tr. pkt., 50c; % oz., $1.25; 

 $2.00 per Yt oz. ; per oz., $7.00. 



(ilANT SORTS IN SEPARATE COLORS 



Tr. pkt. Oz. 



Azure Blue $0.40 $2.75 



Black Blue 40 2.75 



Emperor William, blue 40 2.75 



Hortensia Red 40 2.75 



King of the Blacks *40 2.75 



Lord Beaconsfleld, purple 



violet 40 2.75 



Peacock, blue, claret and 



white 40 2.75 



Snow Queen, pure white 40 2.75 



Striped and Mottled 40 2.75 



White with Eye 40 2.75 



Pure Yellow 40 2.75 



fellow with Eye 40 2.75 



HEADQUARTERS FOR 



ASPARAGUS PLUMOSUS NANUS 



1 000 Seeds, $3.50 10,000 Seeds, $30.00 

 5,000 Seeds, 15.50 25,000 Seeds, 72.50 



Also all other seasonable Seeds, Bulbs 

 and Supplies, 



Send for Wholesale Price List. 



MICHELL'S SEED HOUSE 



518 Market St., Philadelphia 



SEEDS AND BULBS 

 JBobbington's 



128 Chamber. St., N. Y. City 



Chrysanthemum 

 Cuttings 



Major lionnaffon, chas. Razer, Oconto, 

 Pacific Supreme and Chrysolora, ready 

 April 1st, $2.50 per hundred. 



Also, Extra Strong Cutting* of Car- 

 nation Matchless, $20.00 per thousand. 



W. D. HOWARD 



MILFORD, 



MASS. 



U 111 I III 1 1 III) III IIUIM I II 1 1 III llll IM 1 1 II 1 1 II I II 



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I INSTRUCTION IN GARDENING j 



1 Practical Instruction Is offered In I 

 i vegetable, flower and fruit gardening, | 

 i greenhouse and nursery practice, to- | 

 i gether with lectures, laboratory, field | 

 = and shop work In garden botany, zoo- | 

 | logy, pathology, landscape deBign, solla, = 

 I plant chemistry and related BUbJectB. I 

 1 The curriculum is planned for the | 

 = education of any persons who would f 

 = become trained gardeners or fitted to e 

 s be superintendents of estates or parka, e 

 s Students may be admitted at any time. I 

 1 Circulars and other Information will | 

 | be mailed on application. 



| The New York Botanical Garden j 



| Bronx Park XEW TOBK 01TI | 



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